Appeasement

[Yogo Otoko]

"Perhaps... though I, like many Yogo, have just come to terms with who and what I am." She didn't seem too bothered.

[Asako Saburo]

He nodded before snorting once. "Apologies, Yogo-san. I believe I am doing what the Moto occasionally accuses me of. Stating the obvious. Such as calling water wet to the person swimming in the sea." He began to push with the rake again. "I suppose, with what little I know? You seem to be doing just fine right now."

[Yogo Otoko]

"I would most certainly not be here if I sought merely pity," Otoko noted softly. "Even if I recognize my weaknesses and don't seek any great fame, I can still seek a little of it, and know my strengths. The Scorpion would expect no less."

[Asako Saburo]

He smirked and nodded. "Yes. I like that attitude. Besides, where we are? Why not afford yourself of the unique opportunity? All of us should grow here should we not?" And at the end? Even the least of them who actually completed the rigors here? He suspected all of them would have the eyes of others on them going forward to the Topaz Championship.

[Yogo Otoko]

She thought about the tests she'd done so far and shrugged. "You are at the least correct that it's an opportunity. Some more, some less, but all grow."

[Asako Saburo]

He breathed in and shrugged. "I am moderately curious to see what will come out of this, and the kind of skills that will be shown by those who study under the masters here. It is impossible to say until we are done, but watching the process... does not do favors for one's nerves." That might be partially because he was obsessed with his own development.

[Yogo Otoko]

"Fretting has never helped a person succeed Asako-san. Even if it is easier to say than do, you should try to find peace with it all and go with the flow. Success or failure, we can but do our best and move on like the wind."

[Asako Saburo]

"I believe therein lies the problem. I am constantly setting an ever higher standard for myself. It is the only reason I have come as far as I have in my life, and it is difficult for me to do so. Though I confess, the stress does... make me wish I was better at meditation than I am." Because meditation was obviously the solution to this problem. Clearly.

[Yogo Otoko]

Otoko shook her head slowly. "...Meditation alone will not solve your anxiety. It is a path, not the destination. No matter how much you burden yourself with, no matter the high expectations you set, inner peace and acceptance can be found by your own will. Perhaps that is hard since it would also accept failure, but that does not mean it would wish it, or even strive for it."

[Asako Saburo]

"Ah, if that is the case." He stressed the if, as he wasn't sure himself. "Such a thing will always be difficult for me. I am not one who accepts failure of any sort easily. It is a difficult thing for me to handle on the best of days." Even for comparatively small things.

[Yogo Otoko]

"If it was easy, there would be no stress in this world. Even those that are taught to let emotion wash away from them from birth can not do such things easily. If that we could, my family's curse would mean nothing." Otoko grimaced softly, shoulders slumping a bit.

[Asako Saburo]

He considered a moment. So, the curse was not something physical or spiritual, but emotional? But it was upsetting her. He didn't need her bursting into tears. "No, you're not wrong. It isn't easy. I just have to toughen up more." A shrug. "But come... it is early. Why don't we get something to eat? We're about done here."

[Yogo Otoko]

Otoko gave one more sigh before straightening. Her mask hid most of her emotions, but she sounded calm enough when she spoke again. "...I think I have done all the cleaning I wish to besides. Let us go eat, as you say."

[Asako Saburo]

"I have been meaning to ask a question my mother insisted is very silly and I should never wish to actually ask one of your clan... but we are not samurai, so... I would ask if you would indulge me?" he said as he finished the last of it and set the rake to the side, heading towards the mess hall at a steady pace.

"Is it hard to eat with that on?" he gestured to the mask.

[Yogo Otoko]

"It would be, yes, if I kept it on for meals. I suppose you could say I am my most... open... when food is involved." Or the most closed.

[Asako Saburo]

"A practical reality of certain masks, I suppose. In the end, for some of your clan, it sometimes feels that the mask is more the face that we should know than any other." He didn't make any untoward commentary about her choice, though. A sinister mempo had its place, after all. And it kept people at a bit of a distance, he imagined, which given her earlier comments.

[Yogo Otoko]

"As you have noted Asako-san, my family are... converts to Bayushi-Kami's cause, though it was back so far the difference it slight. Regardless, I believe that I can say with some confidence that we are the least likely to have a large difference between having a mask on or off."

[Asako Saburo]

"Mmm, so I am not about to see another side of you during meal time? Good to know." You know, coming out of literally anyone else's mouth on the planet, that might have been pithy, even a tiny bit flirtatious. Coming out of Saburo's? It was slightly terse, growly and like stating the obvious, which once again, was exactly what the Moto rightly indicated he did a great deal. It was an arguably clever comment wasted on the tongue of a student who was aware of the world around him, but just didn't care enough to pay attention most days, so wrapped up in his own problems as he was.

"If I may ask... how did you become trained by the Iuchi? Family favors, political ties, or is one of your relatives originally from their line?" Those would be the most obvious choices. And, frankly, he was a touch curious. It was hardly unheard of, but rarer at times in magical circles.

[Yogo Otoko]

"Mmm, the former two, but not the last. It is rare indeed for a Yogo who proves to have the ability to speak with the kami to have a hard time speaking with the air kami, but that was my fate. Perhaps there was a line of shugenja that had married in that I inherited from. Regardless, the Yogo have helped the Unicorn before, and though a connection to the Kuni would have been easier I imagine, it was decided I would be more... ambivalent to the plains and horses of the Iuchi, so it was arranged."

It wasn't that she hadn't grown to appreciate it all a little, but she was much more the library sort.

[Asako Saburo]

She... kept saying things like ambivalence. It was odd. It seemed to be tied in with what she had said to others. Was she like this with everyone, or just with him? "So, your family secured the arrangement of those suitable from the family that you cared the least about, and the school you were the least thrilled by, specifically with that as a ..." He frowned and cocked his head. "Your family... is a very curious one, Yogo-san. I do not think it is a poor choice at all. It just is a very different motivation. Usually such choices are to closen ties, to build new innovations. There is intentionality behind a thing desired. It is very ... pragmatic. I am not accustomed to it. I was given the training I was because it was found I could speak to the kami at all, and so they leaped at the opportunity to give me something to focus my strength on."